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The smart brand car sharing service will service three London boroughs.

Starting Tuesday Dec. 4, car2go’s fleet of smart mhd coupes – as they are known on the other side of the Atlantic – are available to use.

People can register free for car2go until the end of 2012, either online at car2go.com/London or at the car2go shop in the world’s first pop-up mall, BOXPARK Shoreditch, or at car rental company Europcar’s stores across London.

Once registered, car2go members can locate any available car through the car2go London website, by using a free app or just by walking up to an available car, touching the card reader on the windscreen, getting in and driving off.

In London, car2go costs 35p per minute and is billed directly to the customers’ account. This rate always includes fuel, insurance, road tax, parking and maintenance.

As is customary for the car2go sharing service, customers don’t have to return their car2go to the same parking bay from which it was collected – any borough-owned or unregulated parking space in a participating borough will do.

Of course the cars can be driven anywhere any car can. The car2go can be kept as long as the customer wants, or for a quick trip across town.

“A lot of Londoners don’t need or want a car all the time but enjoy the freedom that driving brings. car2go gives the best of both worlds – the ability to go where you want, when you want – and in comfort – but without all the costs associated with owning, running and insuring a car full-time,” said Stefan Mueller, CEO car2go Europe gmbh. “Today’s launch in three London Boroughs is a big moment for car2go – the Capital is our first UK city. Of course, we’re working with other Boroughs to bring car2go to more people over the coming weeks and months – and other cities and towns too. We’re really at the beginning of a very exciting story for urban mobility in Great Britain.”

London is the 17th city served by car2go, and globally the company has more than 250,000 customers who use over 6,000 vehicles worldwide.

More than five million car2go transactions have been made to date, and this number continues to rise exponentially. In fact, a car2go vehicle is now being rented at one of the existing locations every four seconds.

Marcus Breitschwerdt, President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz UK Ltd, added: “Our smarts are Congestion Charge-exempt, all have eco-start/stop, automatic transmission, air conditioning, GPS navigation, are fuelled, insured and cleaned and are available 24/7. If you park in a Borough-operated parking bay in Islington, Sutton or Newham you don’t even have to pay for parking – car2go has got that covered too.”